


Oh, Death

by galacticjellyfish



Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Blood and Gore, Character Death, Mental Instability, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Torture
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-26
Updated: 2017-11-29
Packaged: 2019-02-06 22:54:06
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,492
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12827847
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/galacticjellyfish/pseuds/galacticjellyfish
Summary: Until Dawn AU"It's been one year since internet celebrities Mark Fischbach and Sean McLoughlin went missing while out of vacation with their close friends and work colleagues, known as the Game Grumps, still with limited leads and no hope of the truth coming out. Rumours and conspiracy theories online are the only solace for loved ones of the victims, and despite such a long time passing, there is still no official statement from the Game Grumps, which only fuel the fire concerning their possible involvement in the disappearance."





	1. Chapter 1

They hated therapy. 

 

They knew it was going to help them, that’s what it was supposed to do, but they just hated it. They hated the repetitive questions, the being treated like a child anytime any subject even remotely morbid came up. They hated having to sit and listen to whatever bullshit the therapist would spew out this time. They just wanted this to end. They just wanted to go home to what they actually had left. This wasn’t going to help at all, this was making everything worse.

 

Sat outside of the doctor’s office, with people much younger than them scattered around the empty chairs, they felt alone. Out of place.

 

They felt worse than they ever had in awhile.

 

They felt completely alone and wished somebody went with them. They wished anyone else had needed to be there and that they were able to stay home with their friends, protecting each other again with no actual danger this time.

 

The only thing that pulled them out of their own misery and dwelling on past events was their name being called by the witch herself.

 

-

 

It had been a tiring day, driving all the way up to a cabin that none of them were even sure existed and was way too far from home. Even Ross wasn’t making his usual annoying jokes, and instead passing out the second he sat on the couch. Arin almost drew dicks on his face, the key word being almost, since Ross would have killed him if he did, but hey, Arin thought it would be hilarious.

It wasn’t really one person who found the cabin for rent, it had come up while Brian and Danny were researching a location for their latest Ninja Sex Party video. In reality, it wasn’t what they wanted. Their video didn’t ask for a vintage wooden cabin up in the mountains, snow reaching almost a foot the year prior, but looking into it, the cabin just seemed to draw them in. It went from just an ad to a commitment; in less than a week no less. Just for the hell of it. Just to say that they did, just to prove that they could. Just as an excuse to keep Jack for longer once the Cool Patrol video had been shot. Why the hell not?

 

With heavy complaining, Mark brought in almost all the luggage and dropped them in the main area, the floor making a concerning sound underneath the weight. Brian got the rest of it after Mark made no move to go back out to the van. He was probably just as annoyed as Mark, seeing everyone else not doing anything, but said nothing. That was just Brian, ignoring the pain.

 

Dan laughed to himself when he walked in, watching as Ross fell face first into one of the couches, “Jeez, Ross’ passed the fuck out guys, guess he gets the couch tonight.”

 

“I knew I should’ve driven. Next thing you know Brian’s just gonna flop over.” Arin made a fake ‘flopping’ sound, using his hand to symbolize Brian falling over.

 

Brian was obviously not amused, “Arin, Ross didn’t drive.”

 

“Whatever, Brian.”

 

“Hey guys, calm down ok?” Suzy butted in, stopping the argument before it could go anywhere, “Let’s just all relax and argue in the morning. Obviously everyone’s a little out of it right now anyways.”

 

“Whatever you say, babe.” Arin grinned, “I guarantee Brian will shank me before this trip is over.”

 

-

 

Jack had woken up first, unhappily and in pain. Ross had accidently kicked him in his sleep, not leaving any marks, but Jack could definitely feel it. He sat up slowly and carefully, rubbing his face and glaring at Ross. It wasn’t Ross’ fault, but there was nobody else to blame.

 

Mark and Jack had planned on just playing a new zombie game Mark had bought for a little while before heading to bed after managing to set up their playstation with Barry’s help, but they both passed out after playing for many hours, with Jack on the couch in a way so he wasn’t touching Ross, and Mark curled up on the ground in front of him, controller trapped under his arms. The game was still playing, but other than that, it was dead silent. All the lights were off. Everyone else had been asleep in a bed hours ago.

 

It took forever for him to fully take in his surroundings and remember where he was. He could see Mark’s character standing idle, stood in a room where no zombies could reach him. They pounded on the glass, and Jack had to admit that the visuals terrified him at that moment, but nothing else happened.

 

He stretched as he stood, carefully maneuvering his body so he didn’t touch Mark. Without thinking, he turned off the game, ready to just end the night on a good note. The good note being that it was quiet and nobody was awake. Once the screen had faded to black, Jack felt his gut scrunch up, praying to God that the game had an auto save feature. He couldn’t remember, his brain was too foggy. He needed sleep.

 

His phone provided the light that led him to his bed, down the creaky hallway that would have held a serial kil ler in any horror movie. Turning on actually lights would have awoken Ross or Mark, and he wasn’t up to dealing with people at two in the morning. Ross was fine on the couch, and Mark would probably wake up on his own because the floor was not the most comfortable place on Earth.

 

Jack was out the moment he hit the bed, blanket not even pulled over him.

 

-

It seemed like seconds later Jack was awake again, heart pounding so loud he almost didn’t feel himself being shaken violently by another person’s hand.

 

He heard Mark’s voice before he felt him, voice desperate and hushed down to a volume he didn’t know was possible.

 

“Jack, we have to go. Now.”

 

He grabbed Mark’s hand, trying to stop all the movement. Mark was shaking violently, staring straight into Jack’s eyes

 

“Mark, what the hell?” Mark shushed him and Jack forced himself to lower his voice to Mark’s level, “Mark-”

 

“Jack, Jack, Jack there’s something outside.” If Jack hadn’t been looking, he would have sworn Mark was crying, “J ack there’s something fucking outside and-”

 

“Mark, you need to calm down, who’s outside?”

 

Jack glanced around the room, eyes wandering to the door Mark flung open when he came in. To the closed window with the curtains left wide open.

 

He looked at every goddamn corner of that room, looking for something, anything that could show what was going on but nothing was out of place. He could see nothing but the snow blowing outside, but the carpet outside the door, the clothes in the closet, and the quivering man in front of him, who saw something he couldn’t.

“Jack, please, we don’t have time, we need to go now.” 

Every second that passed, Jack could see Mark getting worse. Mark was shaking harder now, looking at him desperately while rubbing at his arms, like he was cold. Like that window was open as they spoke. He had never seen someone so genuinely terrified in all his life. He’d seen Mark when he played those games. Those games he was too scared of to play, the ones Mark only played because he had to. The fear in his eyes, it wasn’t that. It was a natural life or death fear. Mark thought he was going to die.

“Mark, breathe, it’s okay. It’s fine, please, it’s gonna be okay. You need to tell me what’s going on.”

“Jack, fuck, come on we need to leave.”

 

Jack’s mind didn’t register Mark letting go and standing up.

 

It did register Mark running out of the room, and the sound of the front door slamming open.

 

_ Shit. _

 

“MARK.” He screamed after him, knowing he was probably waking everyone up but that reall y didn’t matter.

 

He was up in a second, out after Mark.

-

 

Jack regretted not having a jacket, but he didn’t have the time when he left. He also regretted leaving the door open as he left, and walking in inches of snow with only his socks on to protect his feet. And, a little guilty for waking everyone else up and leaving with no explanation. But really, he felt guilty for letting Mark leave. For not grabbing his arm and forcing him to stay put. For having to be out in the woods in the first place. Chasing after someone who was having a mental breakdown and would probably come back on their own.

 

But Mark was his friend.

 

And Mark wasn’t known for mental breakdowns.

 

The only good thing was Jack being wide awake from the snow hitting him every second, which meant he was moving faster and was actually properly observing his surroundings, phone barely providing enough light to see the trees around him. He needed all that he could get.

 

His eyes darted around, unable to find any sign of life. Not that anything could survive out here anyways. It was just wishful thinking.

 

Flames spewed out from miles ahead after what seemed like years, sending Jack into a near heart attack.

 

**FLAMES FROM THE MOUNTAINS WHERE MARK WAS LOST.**

Adrenaline kept Jack alive, tripping over every rock and getting up just as quickly, yelling incoherently the entire time.

 

Jack never heard a noise back, if anything could even be louder than the wind and his own voice.

 

Jack never really felt anything either, besides dread.

 

Nothing was anything at that moment.

 

He felt himself trip again, but it felt different from all the rocks he had been fighting against the entire time. He didn’t feel his feet touch the ground again, and suddenly the wind was pushing against his still body, like he was laying down.

 

Like he was flying.

 

He didn’t have time to think, or to figure out why it fe lt different this time, before his body flung against the rocky bottoms, and suddenly he couldn’t feel anything at all.


	2. Chapter 2

Doctor Richmond’s office was large, with little in it to take up the space. Still, despite all the room, she always sat uncomfortably close to them. They had no idea how to ask her to go away without hurting her feelings or getting stuck for added sessions. Already they were scheduled for another month, but if everything fell into the right place, they could ‘forget’ to schedule anymore appointments and never come back. Maybe block her number and never leave home again.

 

It wasn’t like they left for any other reason.

 

Doctor Richmond was going over her notes from the last session when they walked in, leaving them to wait in silence, unable to do anything but breathe and watch her flip through paper. Plain white paper, with all of their secrets in it. At least, the ones they let slip out. The ones they bothered to talk about.

 

They internally sighed, knowing an external one wouldn’t help with anything. They already knew this was going to be a long, long session.

 

-

 

Dan mindlessly looked out the window as he listened to the first radio station that came up on his phone, incidentally it being one talking about him.

 

He had been in the spotlight a lot in the past year, along with everyone in his life, especially those closest to him. Namely, everyone that went with him to that cabin that night.

 

It stressed him out, trying to explain to his family what happened and how two people could just disappear, despite everyone in the house being awake and watching them run out into the frigid outdoors. Trying to convince people he’s known all his life, people who  _ raised _ him and  _ knew _ him, that he had no idea where Mark and Jack were and that he had nothing to do with them going missing. That he wouldn’t even  _ dream _ of hurting them.

 

God, it hurt him to think that anyone considered them suspects.

 

He had to bring the police in, just to convince his family that it was true. That the police confirmed they left on their own and there was no signs of struggle. His own fucking family, unable to believe anything unless it came from someone in a uniform, and those were the people that  _ knew _ him. There was no hope in trying to convince absolute strangers online that they were innocent.

 

"It's been one year since internet celebrities Mark Fischbach and Sean McLoughlin went missing while out of vacation with their close friends and work colleagues, known as the Game Grumps, still with limited leads and no hope of the truth coming out. Rumours and conspiracy theories online are the only solace for loved ones of the victims, and despite such a long time passing, there is still no official statement from the Game Grumps, which only fuel the fire concerning their possible involvement in the disappearance."

 

Without knowing the woman speaking, Dan wanted to strangle her.

 

_ No shit we didn’t make a statement, what do you want us to say? _

 

It was funny though, hearing official news reporters talking about him like that. He rarely listened to the news, but his dad used to ask him why he was never on the news. He’d laugh, tell Avi that the news generally doesn’t cover things like YouTube, without getting into specifics. They just never really did. Now they were, and Dan could not be more miserable.

 

When the first news story came out, Dan actually threw up. 

 

Honest to God, he ran from his spot in the kitchen, his phone colliding with the marble on the ground as he darted to the bathroom. On the ground, the video still played. Behind the screen, the reporter never stopped talking with his professional, irritating voice. Nobody stopped for Danny.

 

He never really thought of his missing friends anymore. Besides the fact that anytime he thought of them, it was accompanied by a mental replay of every news piece ever written about them, it was just easier not to. Everyone was dealing with it differently, everyone thought a different fate for them. Everyone dealt with it however they wanted. Dan just preferred to assume them dead and forget about it.

 

If they were alive they would have been found already.

 

His earbud was pulled suddenly from out of his phone, which pissed him off, but looking over at Arin’s concerned face, the anger inside of him diminished a little.

 

“Arin!” Dan glared at him.

 

“Dan, you gotta knock that off.” Arin glared back and Dan felt intimidated, “You’re just trying to make yourself depressed.”

 

“If I wanted to do that I’d just go home.” He felt like an angsty teen saying it, and it almost sounded like a joke.

 

It wasn’t a joke.

 

He couldn’t stand to be home anymore.

 

“Whatever asshole.” Arin sighed, moving back to his seat next to Dan and not directly on top of him, “Just try not to think about it, okay? You’ll have plenty of time to do that in a couple hours.”

 

Yeah, in a couple hours.

 

Arin and Dan were the only two on the bus besides the bus driver, who was probably confused listening to their conversation, even more confused as to why he had to drive to the edge of a mountain and just drop off two argueing weirdos. Dan didn’t feel sympathetic though, they were paying the driver good money to take them to the mountains.

 

They were all going back to the cabin that night, that Dan was sure of. Everyone agreed to it.

 

Dan had no idea why they were going back. He knew there would be no closure up there. There had been an entire search and rescue up there, hundreds of volunteers, and there was absolutely no trace of Jack or Mark anywhere. If they searched, it would be in areas others already had been. So unless they magically decided to come back to the cabin, they were out of luck.

 

In reality, this was a shitty idea. The media was already on their ass for not giving a statement, and for basically dropping off the internet since the disappearances. If they found out they were going back to that cabin, and God forbid something happened while they were up there, they were absolutely fucked. At that point, not even the police could protect them. If the police would even consider their words. And if they hadn’t already been disowned, their families would definitely do it then.

 

Christ, was everyone else having the same problems?

 

Did Suzy’s dad yell at her, demanding answers after the police called? Did Brian have to explain to his daughter why he wasn’t working anymore? Has Arin even talked to his family? Did Ross’ parents even know? Why didn’t he ask at any point this entire past year?

 

God, they were a mess.

 

He wanted to stop thinking so badly, but even when he shoved the cord back into his phone, blasting Rush as loud as his phone would let him, startling Arin beside him in the process, it never stopped. His mind never took a break from the constant worrying and overthinking.

 

_ Sorry Arin, guess I can’t stop. _

 

-

 

Suzy stepped out of her car with Ross soon following her. It was a mostly silent ride up there; sometimes Ross changed the channel if it stopped playing music, but they never really talked. Even then, they didn’t really. Suzy held the station door open for Ross, Ross nodded a thank you, and they stood inside waiting for the carts that would take them up the mountain in silence.

 

There was light snow outside, and many times Suzy almost used it as a way to start a conversation with Ross, but stopped herself. She couldn’t tell how Ross felt then. She didn’t know if he wanted to talk or if he even cared how the weather would be for them tonight.

 

She wanted to believe that the Ross she knew a year ago was the one next to her, but it wasn’t looking like that was so.

 

To her surprise, Ross was the one to talk first.

 

It wasn’t until they were well into the journey up, sat facing each other on the closed in cart that he spoke. She thought maybe he had gotten bored. Maybe he was waiting until there was no going back. When he couldn’t change his mind about coming up.

 

“How’ve you been?” He didn’t look at Suzy when he spoke, he kept his gaze down, at his gloved hands.

 

“I’ve been alright. You?” She asked back.

 

Ross stayed quiet for a second, “Been better.”

 

They didn’t talk again for the rest of the ride up.

 

-

 

Dan paid the driver on his way out, trying to get away as soon as possible. Suzy’s car was already there when they got off, and for a second Dan wondered why Arin didn’t go with Suzy, but he couldn’t stay on one thought for very long.

 

“Dammit, the cart’s already being used.”

 

Dan looked over to where Arin stood, and sure enough, the cart was missing, moving upwards with people inside, “Guess we gotta wait.”

 

They tried standing outside, but it only took a few minutes before they went inside the station. The temperature had started to drop as soon as they arrived. Just their luck.

 

Arin was messing around with broken buttons on the other side of the room while Dan watched him. He knew they were broken because one, they were labelled as such, and two, the buttons were all cracked, missing whole pieces and having no blinking colours like the new, working ones did.

 

“You trying to be a tech, Arin?” Dan asked, chuckling.

 

Arin didn’t give any reaction, just kept pressing the broken buttons. Dan didn’t repeat himself. He just stood still, watching his breath in front of him.

 

The cart came back after far too long, making strange creaking noises that Dan remembered from when they first arrived a year prior. He wished it was still a year ago. He wished it was so, so he could be there when Mark and Jack ran out. So he could follow them. Save them.

 

Maybe he could have just died with them so he wouldn’t have to deal with this shit ever again.

 

That would sure be nice.

 

Arin stepped back over to him minutes after the car had arrived, Dan not even realizing any time had passed at all. He was watching the cart intensely.

 

“Dan.”

 

“Arin.”

 

“Are you sure you wanna do this? We can still call it off.”

 

“I mean, do you still want to?”

 

“Yeah.”

  
“Then I want to too.”

 

Arin didn’t looked convinced, but Dan couldn’t find it in himself to care.


End file.
